A datacenter is a facility used to house a collection of datacenter electronic components such as computer servers and associated components, such as network hardware. The collection of computer servers is often called a “server cluster” or “server farm,” and is designed to accomplish server needs far beyond the capability of a single machine. The networking hardware typically includes network switches and/or routers which enable communication between the different parts of the server farm and the users of the server farm.
Server farms are commonly used for cluster computing, web services, remote data storage, web hosting, and other web services. Server farms are increasingly being used by enterprises instead of, or in addition to, mainframe computers. As the demand for server farms continues to increase, a need exists to limit the cost of operating a datacenter. Often, a pertinent part of the cost of operating a datacenter relates to the costs of installing or removing the electronic components from server racks. Such costs may be incurred during initial installation of the electronic components in the server racks, replacement of electronic components, or when reorganizing the electronic components within the server racks.